Congress Must Hold CDC Accountable for Response to COVID-19

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
kbroadway@health-innovation.org

Congress Must Hold CDC Accountable for Response to COVID-19

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of today’s Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing titled, “The Federal Response to COVID-19,” the Health Innovation Alliance (HIA) calls on lawmakers to hold the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) accountable for its failure to properly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency had ample time – 15 years – to follow the law requiring the creation of a modern CDC data system. Congress has given them more than $1 billion in recent years to do just that, but there is a complete lack of transparency in how that money is being used and how our public health system is being modernized. CDC has publicly admitted it failed, but now it’s asking Congress for more money and more authority as a reward.

HIA urges lawmakers to increase oversight of the CDC to ensure money is not wasted on duplicative work, creating burdensome reporting requirements for state and local public health organizations or building things in-house that already exist and function in the private sector. The agency’s focus should be on ensuring data is available to those who can use it to spot and stop the next pandemic. If the CDC cannot do that, Congress should give the job to someone who can.